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Saber (Fate/stay night)
Saber is the Saber-class Servant of Kiritsugu Emiya during the Fourth Holy Grail War, then of his son, Shirou Emiya, during the Fifth. Her true name is Artoria Pendragon, better known as King Arthur, the "Once and Future King" and a legendary hero of Britain. She became king by pulling the sword Caliburn from the stone, but after it was destroyed, she was given Excalibur and Avalon by the Lady of the Lake. She is not a true Heroic Spirit, but instead the real Artoria, who made a deal with the World to act as a Servant, hoping for a chance to win the Grail and use it to redo her rule or erase it from existence, so that the tragedies that occurred in her life would not occur. Statistics *'Name': Saber, Artoria Pendragon, "Arthur Pendragon", King Arthur, King of Knights, Proud Knight-King, Once and Future King *'Origin': Fate/stay night *'Gender': Female *'Age': 24 (Physically 14 due to Avalon) *'Birthday': Unknown *'Classification': Saber-class Servant, Pseudo-Heroic Spirit, Legendary Hero and Former King of Britain *'Blood Type': Unknown *'Height': 154 cm (5'1") *'Weight': 42 kg (92 lbs) *'Skin Color': Light *'Eye Color': Green *'Hair Color': Blonde *'Relatives': Saber of Red ("Son") *'Alignment': Good *'Status': Active *'Class': SSS-Class *'Powers and Abilities': Master Swordswoman *'Standard Equipment': Her armor, materialized through her power, Excalibur, Invisible Air, and Avalon. *'Weaknesses': Saber is bound by her honor as a knight, and she'd thus never rely on underhanded or more pragmatic tactics. Her sixth sense can be fooled by things that Saber has never experienced. Unlike other Servants, Saber isn't a proper Heroic Spirit, possessing a physical body that cannot go into spirit form though she does not have this in the world of Fate/Grand Order. She harbors a great deal of self-loathing and regrets over her actions and perceived failures as the King of Britain, which can be exploited to rile her up, or to break her mentally. Losing the ability to use one of her hands properly will prevent her from using Excalibur to its fullest potential, reducing its range to that of an Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm and weakening it considerably. *'Notable Attacks/Techniques': Excalibur *'Voice Actor': Ayako Kawasumi Power Stats *'Attack Potency': *'Speed': *'Lifting Strength': *'Striking Strength': *'Durability': *'Stamina': *'Range': *'Intelligence': *'Key': Appearance Saber has the appearance of a young woman in her late teens with a slender physique, soft skin, and green eyes. She has "finely textured" blonde hair that seems "as if sprinkled with gold dust." Her face shows some signs of naivety and displays elegance. She is more muscular than someone like Rin, leading her to believe her body is unappealing, but Shirou believes her to be very feminine. She normally wears shining armor with an old styled dress, made from old-fashioned blue cloth, underneath. She is actually older than her appearance would show, as her body did not age from the moment she pulled Caliburn from the stone to the time of her death. Shirou sees her as being a few years younger, and the age of her body is probably a year younger than him. Though she lived as a man most of her life, Shirou and Rin describe her as beautiful instantly upon seeing her. Despite her armor being unrefined and unaesthetic, Shirou describes Saber as being beautiful enough to make the steel clanking of her armor seem like the chiming of a bell. While in public, she wears casual clothes to maintain her Servant identity consisting of a blue, knee-length skirt (with tights) and white shirt (with a blue string tie), and brown boots originally a birthday present to Rin from Kirei Kotomine for Rin Tohsaka. Personality Saber is a strong-willed young woman who always speaks truthfully. She is courageous, determined, and set on winning the Holy Grail. She constantly insists that she is a knight and king above all, and that her gender is of little importance to her and her role. She is resolute in following her own morals, regardless of the more viable, yet underhand, tactics being available. Saber prefers direct, fair confrontations based upon codes of chivalry. Not even her hunger for the Holy Grail can make her abandon her code of honor. This leads to regular conflicts with Kiritsugu over strategy within the Fourth Holy Grail War. While obtaining the Holy Grail is of the utmost importance, rejecting her chivalry is something she will never do, even if it should put her at a disadvantage. If such came to pass, she coldly replies that her master must use a Command Seal as recompense for treading upon her heart. When a master respects Saber's own rules, they tend to do very well with Saber, such as Irisviel being closer to Saber than her true master, Kiritsugu. Saber's identity as both a "human" and a "king" is one of the greatest struggles of her character throughout the Fourth and Fifth Holy Grail Wars. When she is first summoned to the Grail Wars of Fate/zero and Fate/stay night, she doesn't like to be treated as a woman, or even as a human, due to her status as a knight and a Servant. She tries to keep the notion that she is only a Servant, a tool for her Master, first and foremost in her mind. A normally quiet and reserved young knight even begins to raise her voice in defense of this non-human identity. This focus is so extreme that she has no obvious reaction to being walked-in on by Shirou as she was naked, not understanding, or perhaps ignoring, his flustered response. She slowly becomes more aware of herself as a girl after her bonds with Shirou and Rin develop, and later realizes and displays her true embarrassment at such a situation when it is accidentally repeated with another walk-in. Despite being granted knowledge of the modern world upon being summoned, Saber also shows some signs of being a 'fish-out-of-water' in many social situations due to her strong disconnect from her humanity in her past and lack of interaction with others her age and social status. She was unaware of the innuendo of the phrase 'between my legs' and didn't understand why Irisviel was giggling afterwards. She's also unaware of what a date is, as the Grail doesn't give data on minor modern social structure and phrasing, and only understands when Rin translates the word for her. Due to conducting herself as an untouchable king at all times in her past, she is unfamiliar with affection or flirting from others. Notably, she is sexually inexperienced as a woman, but seems knowledgeable about a man's sexual experiences nevertheless. Once Saber "allows" herself to become more self-aware of herself as a girl, Saber becomes very obviously self-conscious of her body and hides it, remarking it "unsightly", and makes conscious efforts to stay out of the center of attention. On the flip side, she is also more aware of others' physical appearances, envying the voluptuous Rider. These experiences of womanhood were, initially, incorrectly viewed by both Saber and Shirou to be a complete contradiction to her identity as the king of knights. This causes much strife between them, and internally, for Saber. Through careful self-exploration and support from those around her, Saber finds the answer for herself: that she is allowed to be happy as a woman; that she does not need to punish herself, locking that part of herself away, since she "failed" Britain; and that she is a capable, respectable woman-king of Britain all the same. This accumulates in Saber accepting Shirou's love, and her declaration to herself and Gilgamesh that she will always be "a king before a woman", but a woman king all the same. In Realta Nua, Saber journeys to Avalon and lives as this person she wishes to be. In Fate/hollow ataraxia, Saber acts to refine that womanhood and femininity among her peers, and Sakura and Taiga help her with this when they go shopping together. Saber is loyal, independent, and reserved. She appears cold, but is usually suppressing her emotions to focus on her goals. She is bewildered by Shirou's "protective" tendencies, and believes his over-valuing of her humanity jeopardizes her chances of winning the Holy Grail War. However, Saber is secretly deeply insecure, having no real sense of self-worth. As she was born and raised to be a king in service of her country, she has no sense of self-worth past that, and can only feel fulfilled by serving other people. Shirou realizes from his dreams of her past that, even though she is a supremely skilled warrior, she would be happier if she didn't have to fight at all. Throughout her rule, she was plagued by self-doubt about being a worthy king, and eventually came to hate herself for not meeting the impossible standards she set for herself. She feels deep guilt over the eventual destruction of her kingdom, holding herself solely responsible and calling herself an inadequate ruler. When she was shown her death before pulling Caliburn, Saber accepted that she'd die alone being ostracized by everyone due to her taking many lives. However, even though she accepted that, she was horrified after realizing that her kingdom would be destroyed alongside her in the bloody Battle of Camlann Hill. She understood, as Merlin told her, that Britain would fall, but she wanted to believe its end could be more peaceful, like a slumber. As a result of these factors, her wish for much of the Fourth and Fifth Holy Grail Wars is to completely undo her rule so that someone more suitable can take her place in order to give Britain a peaceful end. Rider and Shirou both chastise her for this, saying that to undo her rule would be an insult to all those who died in her name, or that she is selfish for wanting to redo the past merely because she didn't like the result. For the most part, Saber is a serious person who fully devotes herself whatever task she's given. This can especially true when it comes to competition, since she's a sore loser, though truthfully her soreness is directed at her own weakness. Saber, normally over-sensitive to others' feelings, can become obstinate at her worst. She can spend hours on a single task that she doesn't feel satisfied with, such as forcing Rin and Shirou to keep letting her play baseball because she is losing way past the time scheduled. Her devotion to her kingly duty, however, is obviously greater than any poor sportsmanship. Her fanatic lock-on to this "duty" can disturb others, who see her denying herself of everything for the sake of this duty. This zealotry causes her to be so stubborn in completing her duty that she ignores, rejects, and/or actively fights against others' opinions in a desperate attempt for validation. This is most obvious in her fights with Shirou about her past. This tendency to fight against others who she disagrees with is compounded by how Saber is unable to ignore what others say, even the smallest of words or actions. She cares greatly about others' opinions, and their disagreement hurts her greatly; her brother, Kay, compares her heart to a reed in that respect. If the other party is, instead, making a transgression against her, she is extremely ready to fight, even physically, anyone for that perceived insult. This most often includes Shirou, in a great variety of situations, both serious and light. Shirou implying that Saber is a human, and not a Servant, is immediately cornered verbally by Saber. At another time, Shirou is knocked unconscious for teasing her for playing with her lion plushy in Fate/hollow ataraxia. Underneath her serious exterior that she feels forced to hold, Saber shows herself to be a kind-hearted and gentle person who wishes to protect those she cares about. She is perceptive when it comes to the others' feelings and their troubles, almost dangerously so when combined with her low self-worth and habit to overthink. This is best demonstrated in a positive way when she purposely forfeited a competition of best little sister to Illya when she saw her frustration at losing by pretending to be overwhelmed by Illya's "sister force", even convincing Sakura (another competitor) to join her. Her ability to perceive others' troubles also made her reckless in her pursuit to save others during her training with Caliburn, for which she was scolded many times by Kay. Saber greatly enjoys seeing the happiness of others, even though she doesn't wish any happiness for herself. This trait is a cause of great concern to those who care about her, thinking she should obtain her own happiness. Saber herself believes she doesn't deserves happiness due to her self-perceived failure as king. She rarely smiles for herself but smiles for others upon seeing their happiness and safety. During her reign, she never laughed once, with the last time being during her training with Caliburn. She is still very capable of laughing, such as when she giggled at Shirou's joke about Rin wanting to use the Grail to rule the world. Her kind heart can also extend to her enemies, such as while identifying the Saxons as her enemies, she didn't see them as evil. Rather, she understood they sought Britain for a land to call home, believing their aspiration to be inherently good. During her younger days, Saber loved to take care of horses, which surprised Kay when she used them in battle, despite her love for them. But, to her, a horse dying in battle is a different sin than a soldier dying, as a soldier knows why they're on the battlefield, while a horse does not. This kind-hearted facet of Saber is seen as her true self for it is a person free from unhealthy, inhuman expectations - Shirou sees it as a Saber who no longer needs to fight. When Saber does not feel as though she needs to be inhumanly strong, she is less argumentative and confrontational, for these are traits she developed to make up for her inability to meet her impossible goals. Though she once felt more linked to dragons due to her unique birth, she came to enjoy lions after taking care of a lion cub for a month at some point in her life. She claims that it is not that she "likes" them, but rather the happiness she experienced as he became attached to her brought forth a bond with them. The lion cub in her past was very energetic, often biting or scratching, but she wished to be able to stay with him until the end. She has had feelings for lions since then and remembers these fond memories while holding stuffed lions. Shirou, seeing the memory of her rubbing her cheek against the lion, comments on it being a special time where she truly looks like a girl her age. She is shown to have a voracious appetite, finishing large servings of rice within one minute. Although she can normally eat anything, Shirou's food education is what awoke her gourmet spirit. She originally did not appreciate modern food, as she doesn't actually need to eat as a Servant, and because she had believed that all food was simple. She had very bad experiences with the food in her time, due to being limited to meals like large quantities of potatoes, vinegar, bread, and ale, or even at times simply eating vegetables alone in times of need. She did not concern herself with food much in her life and allowed her cooks to do as they wished. She felt those dishes were unrefined, although she was not displeased by them. She shudders at the thought of eating the food of her era once introduced to Shirou's cooking. She thought it had been made to suit the tastes of the knights, because they acknowledged it as tasting good, but they simply were unable to say it was bad to the King's face. Gawain was an exception, and enjoyed the meals, not noticing the others' distaste for it. History Power Main Skills and Equipment Invisible Air: Bounded Field of the Wind King: Excalibur's sheath, a mysterious wind that hides its true identity, preventing other Servants from identifying her. It is a Bounded Field, closer to normal magecraft than a Noble Phantasm, presumably created by Merlin. The powerful winds around the blade distort light, rendering Excalibur completely invisible and its shape near-impossible to discern, keeping her opponents confused and unable to properly gauge its size and length, or even what kind of weapon it is. Once they figure it out, however, it becomes useless in this regard. It takes on Excalibur's sharp edge, and Saber can use it to form a defensive wall of wind large enough to envelop a building. Once the barrier is released, the compressed wind surges around her and can be released as a single-shot weapon, known as Strike Air: Hammer of the Wind King. She can also use it to propel herself forwards at greater speeds. Excalibur: Sword of Promised Victory: The strongest holy sword, and King Arthur's most famous and powerful Noble Phantasm. It is a Divine Construct; more specifically, it is a "Last Phantasm," one of the ultimate weapons forged by the gods; or, in this case, it's the crystallization of humanity's wishes forged by the planet itself. Much like Excalibur Proto, it is a weapon designed to protect the planet by defeating those that would destroy it. Due to its incredible potential for destruction, its true power is restricted by multiple oaths. : When activated, it converts Saber's magical power into light that is then released as an extremely destructive wave of energy on the level of Divine Thaumaturgy. Despite the appearance of this function, only the tip of this energy wave can do damage, as the rest of the light emitted by Excalibur is the dislocation of everything it has destroyed along its path. Excalibur also boasts one of the fastest activation speeds among Noble Phantasms, matching the charging speed of both the original Pegasus and Iskandar's chariot, completing its activation in less than a second. Saber has also demonstrated the ability to partially invoke Excalibur's power in both melee combat and its activated form, dispelling Invisible Air to cut down Assassin in a single strike and forcing Gilgamesh to dodge an attack with a thinner beam that was charged while in motion. Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia: Excalibur's scabbard, a Divine Construct of the same make. Passively, Avalon bestows immortality and regeneration upon its wielder; they do not age and can regenerate even from blows that remove most of their torso and their heart. It cannot, however, restore a destroyed brain. However, its real power is in its active use, as an "absolute defense." It shields Artoria in Avalon, the land of the fairies, the unreachable utopia that she strived to reach in life. It dissipates into magical particles and becomes a "portable fortress" that blocks off any interference, even up to the sixth dimension. It is on the level of true magic, and not even the Five Magics can bypass the barrier. Class Skills: *'Magic Resistance': An innate ability that grants protection against magical effects. Unlike the Resistance effect that merely rejects Magical Energy, this ability cancels the spells altogether. Due to possessing the blood of dragons, Saber has a stellar A-Rank in this ability, rendering her virtually invulnerable to all modern magi's spells and even of Caster's from the Age of Gods. This also applies to indirect magic attacks, such as magical hypnosis, petrification, and spatial manipulation. *'Riding': The ability to ride mounts. Saber is proficient in this ability due to riding horses throughout her life, resulting in B rank Riding and allowing her to ride practically any horse or modern vehicle with complete control, even things from far beyond her time such as the heavily modified Yamaha V-Max Kiritsugu customized for her though due to having lived in the Age of Man, this does not extend to mounts such as those under the Phantasmal species. While under Kiritsugu, her Riding rank rises to A, further increasing her ability to ride all known regular mounts and vehicles but still falling short to be able to ride those of the Divine and Phantasmal species. Using the aforementioned bike her previous master made for her and enhancing it with her Mana Burst ability, she was able to keep pace with Rider's chariot and easily dodges the latter's attacks while veering through traffic, reading the air flow to allow her to accomplish such feats with her eyes closed. Personal Skills: *'Charisma': The natural talent to command an army, which increases the ability of allies during group battles. It is said that a rank of B in this skill is sufficient to lead a nation as its King. *'Instinct': The power to "feel" the most favorable developments for oneself during battle. Saber has an A-Rank in this skill, granting her a refined sixth sense that is close to true precognition that had allow her to avoid a death blow from Cu's Gae Bolg as well as Sasaki Koujirou's Tsubame Gaeshi and finding an opening in their second encounter, in addition to halving the hindrance that visual and auditory obstructions would generally provide. *'Mana Burst': A skill that allows for an increase in performance by infusing one's weapons and body with magical energy, for both defensive and offensive purposes, effectively recreating the effects of a jet burst. Saber uses this skill mainly for her sword techniques, defense, and high-speed movement, propelling herself across the battlefield at high speeds while reinforcing her entire body with magical energy. With A-rank, even a stick can become a great weapon. Due to this and with her own innate high magical capacity, she can even fight off and take Berserker's blows with her own though ultimately would lose due to Shirou's inability to provide her with mana. Blessing of the Lady of the Lake: Saber has also received the blessings of Vivian, the Lady of the Lake who bestowed Excalibur to the young king. As a result, she can walk on water as if it were solid ground without any change in movement speed or traction. Former Skills and Equipment Relationships *Kiritsugu Emiya *Irisviel von Einzbern *Shirou Emiya *Rin Tohsaka *Sakura Matou *Illyasviel von Einzbern *Archer *Kirie Kotomine *Gilgamesh *Mordred *Lancelot *Knights of the Round Table *Rider In Other Media Movies * Omakes * Spin-offs * Crossovers * Video Games * Music * Battles & Events Battles * Events * Trivia * Quotes * Category:Characters Category:Female Category:Saber-class Servant Category:Heroic Spirit Category:Swordsmen Category:King Category:Fate Characters Category:Fate/stay night Characters